Areas of Interest

"A 4,300-year-old city, which has a massive step pyramid that is at least 230 feet (70 meters) high and spans 59 acres (24 hectares) at its base, has been excavated in China, archaeologists reported in the August issue of the journal Antiquity.

The pyramid was decorated with eye symbols and "anthropomorphic," or part-human, part-animal faces. Those figures "may have endowed the stepped pyramid with special religious power and further strengthened the general visual impression on its large audience," the archaeologists wrote in the article. [The 25 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth]

For five centuries, a city flourished around the pyramid. At one time, the city encompassed an area of 988 acres (400 hectares), making it one of the largest in the world, the archaeologists wrote. Today, the ruins of the city are called "Shimao," but its name in ancient times is unknown…."Main pagelink

The Chinese government's Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Commission concluded in 1996 that the Xia existed between 2070 and 1600 BC. So, 2300 BC puts these "heroes" into the era of the Emperor Yao, of the "Five Emperors," while the Xia are often thought to be synonymous with the Erlitou culture of the Yellow River basin in the northern plains. The Shimao step-pyramid in Shenmu County, Shaanxi, is something like 600+plus KMS NNW of Erlitou, as well as being hundreds of years older!